General presentation

The National Plan on Drugs (N.P.D.) is a government initiative created in 1985 and designed to coordinate and strengthen the policies related to illegal drugs that have been carried out by the different Public Administrations and Social entities in Spain.

 

According to Royal Decree 1555/2004, of June 25, by which the basic structure of the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs is developed (BOE June 26, 2004), the Government Delegation for the National Plan on Drugs is entitled to the management, impulse, coordination and supervision of those services related to the National Plan on Drugs updating and implementation, all of it under the upper management of the General secretary of Health.

 

The organizational structure of the Plan is as follows:

 

• An Inter-ministerial Group, presided by the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs and consisting of representatives from the Ministries of Justice, Education and Culture, the Interior, Labour and Social Matters as well as the Secretary of State of the Treasury, the Secretary of State of Economy and the Secretary of State of Relations with the Parliament. The Secretariat of this Interdepartmental Group will be in the hands of the Government Delegate for the N.P.D.

 

• The relationship between the Central Administration and the Autonomous Governments will take place via two organisations:

 

a) The Sectorial Conference, presided by the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs, the policy decision making organism, consisting of the members of the Inter-ministerial Group and the Councillors responsible for the drug dependency policy in the Autonomous Governments, and

b) The Inter-autonomic Commission, presided by the Government Delegate for the N.P.D., including those directly responsible for the Autonomous Government Plans on Drugs in the 17 Autonomous Communities and the Autonomous Cities of Ceuta and Melilla, which submits proposals of a technical nature to the Sectorial Conference and executes the guidelines issued by the latter.

 

The participation of the civil society – NGOs, private initiatives, foundations, companies, etc. – is organized using different cooperation formulae.

 

The Royal Decree 1555/2004, of June 25, by which the basic structure of the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs is organized (BOE June 26, 2004), regulates in detail the functions corresponding to the Government Delegation , among them especially:

 

• Preparing and informing on those matters that have to be submitted to the Interdepartmental Group on the National Plan on Drugs as well as developing the actions and proposals derived from the agreements of this Interdepartmental Group, supervising their execution.

• Executing the coordination in this scope between the Services and Units of the different Ministries, according to the policy statement passed by the UUNN General Assembly in June 1998 as well as by the European Strategy on Drugs 2000-2004 and the acting Plan developing it.

• Maintaining relations with the different Public Administrations, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) as well as with other private and expert Institutions, both national and foreign.

• Designing, encouraging, coordinating, assessing, and implementing the follow up of prevention, assistance and reincorporating programmes all of them within the drug addiction scope.

• Coordinating the allocation of budget resources of the National Plan on Drugs.

• Servir como órgano estatal de comunicación con el Observatorio Europeo de la Droga y las Toxicomanías en el ejercicio por este de las competencias que tiene reconocidas en la normativa comunitaria

• Dirigir y coordinar las actividades de investigación y formación, como Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Formación sobre Drogas, de acuerdo con lo previsto en el Real Decreto 1911/1999, de 17 de diciembre, por el que se aprueba la Estrategia Nacional sobre Drogas 2000-2008

• Dirigir el Centro de Documentación del Plan Nacional sobre Drogas

• Making and coordinating those data collection activities throughout all Spain related to Statistics and Epidemiology on drug use and drug addiction. As a consequence, the National Plan on Drugs will act as the Spanish Focal point, that is, the Spanish Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, all this in coordination with the regulations from the different Autonomous Communities on this matter.

• Working as the Spanish Focal point within the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, in accordance with the European regulations.

• Managing and coordinating the research and training activities by means of the National Drug Research and Training Institute (Inifd), organism linked and created to be dependent on the Government Delegation for the National Plan on Drugs since 2002.

• Managing the Documentation Centre of the National Plan on Drugs.

• Participating in the meetings of the corresponding International Organisms and intervening in the application of the agreements derived from the latter. Especially remarkable are those agreements developed within the cooperating framework of the European Union, being the National Plan on Drugs the general coordinating office on drug matters within the different Spanish Ministries, this despite those competences derived from their authority. Notwithstanding, the foreign representation of Spain is linked to the Foreign Office.

• Managing, promoting and coordinating the international cooperation on drug matters with other foreign countries.
  Promoting and coordinating the bilateral relations of the National Plan on Drugs in this matter.

• Coordinating the budgetary resources of the National Plan on Drugs, as well as making the corresponding documentation to elaborate the related budgetary programmes.

• Managing and administrating all that related to personnel, budgetary and technical aspects of the Government Delegation, despite the competences linked to other upper departmental organisms.

• Managing the Fund from goods confiscated as a result of drug trafficking and other related offences, to be used for the prevention, health service and rehabilitation of drug addicts, as well as for the support of the repression of the drug offer. All this under the supervision of the coordination of assigning group, despite the presence of the Ministry of Interior representatives.